Trust is a Strong Word
by MissInfinityness
Summary: My name is Whisper, and this is my story. I was born in a Pokemon Center, raised in a life of abuse with my mother and her four friends. When the opportunity to escape arises, I jump into its arms. This is a-kind of cliche-tale about life, death, revolution and evolution. This is a story of trust, and what an important thing it is. I also like reviews. Reviews are nice.
1. Introduction

_**This story uses characters and a little of the story line from generation 5, and Pokémon from all generations. Also, now in chapter form!**_

_This story takes place a few years after the story line in Pok_é_mon Black and White (NOT Black and White __2__-I haven't played those yet.) This story is basically based on what would've happened if Team Plasma had won. If there's a whole section of the story in Italics, it is NOT Whisper telling it. It's an insight on how certain characters were feeling at certain parts of the story._

**Trust is a Strong Word**

My name is Whisper. I'm sure you've heard of me; rumors spread fast, and stories even faster. Although my name might not seem familiar, the tale about how an Eevee escaped Team Plasma has been circulated, changed, and altered in many different ways. Many Pokémon who have heard the story most likely won't be able to decipher between what's true and what others added for their benefit.

After years of studying and lessons from a good, human friend of mine, I have finally learned the English language and can compose an autobiography. I decided to write my life on paper as I've always seen myself as a better writer. There are some things that you can't describe orally, that only ink on a thin sheet of paper can express that the person feels their pain. Of course, I'm writing this not only because of that, but also because I'm sick of all the lies about me and my life-I want to put the rumors to rest. I don't know why so many Pokémon find interest my life story and seem so obsessed with manipulating it. I won't try and be humble and say it isn't interesting - the problem is that I have never seen myself as an expert storyteller, and so far the only way I have been able to tell my tale is from my mouth. I know a very capable human who would be much better at reliving this than than me, though most of the _Pokémon_ who survived my life died of old age. 57 years, or 114 in human years, is a long time for an Eevee, or any Pokémon, to live. My human friend says that I was probably genetically engineered by Them to outlive most Pokémon, and knowing Plasma, that idea isn't too far fetched.

My story probably isn't the most interesting thing you'll ever hear, or read, depending on how this was first told to you. Although some things may not seem true, I am not a liar, and this most likely a lot more realistic than the other adaptations. Before I want you to read this, I want you to know that everything said here, or written here, is completely, one-hundred percent true-or at least, as true as I know it to be.


	2. Chapter 1

Now, I'll begin my story.

It all started when I was about 3 years old (PokeYears, of course.). It was another gloomy morning in the Pokémon Center-the newer ones, not the old fashioned, friendly ones Zenotix told me about. Thinking of those, I can't help but cry a little when I think of the Pokémon centers when I lived in one. They were tall, wide, concrete buildings, not unlike most of the structures at that time. They were "super centers" as I heard some people call them, with a prison (a PokePrison, as pretty much every human at that time was some kind of criminal, so nobody really went to jail), a breeding center, and a "storage" place all in one. The prison is where "bad" Pokémon who disobeyed Team Plasma were punished. I had never been there, I couldn't tell you what it was like, but I had only known one Pokémon that was sent there come back. The Breeding Center was where they experimented with Pokémon like me. I've seen a flying Squirtle and a Chikorita that could breath fire before, all results from the Breeding Center. The Storage Center was where they keep all of their captured Pokémon, or any results from the breeding center, like me and Glaceon. I was born into that, but Glaceon was once a wild Eevee.

The Pokémon Center was a very dismal place, but I don't know what place that keeps millions of mistreated and abused Pokémon in one space wouldn't be. The storage room was chilly, like living in a giant freezer, and the Team Plasma Grunts were cruel. I will never forget the horrible smell of chemicals and stainless steel that filled the entire building.

Although Team Plasma was evil to the core, they were very organized. They split the Storage Centers into wide hallways with short ceilings, filled with crates. The crates were stacked into columns of three, and rows of I don't know how many. Apparently the hallways vary in size depending on which type of Pokémon is in it. I lived in the Eevee section, obviosly, which had about 20 rows of crates on each wall. The crates were made of wire, the floor too, which was uncomfortable to sleep on. They had provided each of us a tattered blanket, though, but the holes in it were larger than my head so they barely made a difference. I was lucky to be put in a crate near my mother, Glaceon. I loved my mother, heck, I still do. She was the most amazing Pokémon I had ever met in my long life. She was clever, so kind, and witty enough to feed herself and me. I can't say the same for my father, my mother told me he was taken back to the breeding room before I was born and died in an experiment. She said it wasn't sad, that he was a horrible creature, rude, arrogant and violent.

My cage was on the floor, with Glaceon to the right of me, Spark, a Flareon, above me who, unlike most of the Pokémon in the Center, was once owned by a trainer. Spark was ancient and very wise, but strong from her years of fighting outside the Center. To the left was a bubbly Leafeon who was very optimistic and positive, despite her state of living. She had only been in the Center a few months, she had arrived when I was just turning 3, and wasn't yet accustomed to the Pokémon Center's ways. She was also fairly lucky-with her incredibly personality and beauty, she easily fed herself and somehow managed to avoid being beaten by the Grunts. Above Leafeon was her opposite-Umbreon, a pessimist from his 30 some years in the Center. He was kind, though, and taught me almost everything I know that my mother hadn't told me about the Center. Above Glaceon was another Leafeon named Evergreen, who was a long time friend of Sparks. She also was once a trainer's Pokémon and their trainers had been good pals, and so were they. Evergreen was gentle and soft spoken, though determined, and slightly mysterious. She had an air around her that told of a past that was hacked to pieces and buried, that is scared to be known again.

Like I said, it was morning. At least, that's what we all guessed because that was when the dim florescent lights turned on and when we got fed. Being "fed" was usually bloody and dangerous for young pokemon. The back of our small crates open up for a few seconds-you don't get out in time, you don't eat-into a large, empty room, save a balcony that jutted from the wall about 200 feet above the ground. I heard that once a Xatu tried to fly up into the balcony and escape, and that when he landed on the platform a Grunt sliced his wings off with a sword, and the Xatu plummeted to the floor and crumpled on the concrete in a bloody mess. Since then, an electric barrier was put up around the balcony, but it isn't like a pokemon will try to escape after that. Anyway, all the Pokémon from that side of the wall would go in that room, the other side to another similar room. From the balcony a Grunt would throw a couple handfuls of dry food, then it' a free for all. All of us will fight our way into the center to try and get something to eat. It's probably great entertainment for the Grunts. It's not unusual for a couple Pokémon to die during this. I have long since given up eating; instead my mother brings me something to eat every evening at our second meal time.

I was too tired to fully wake up, so I listened to my mother and her friends talk with sleepy interest.

"What day is it?" Spark asked, stretching her back. I could hear her old bones popping and snapping.

"Doomsday. Or it might as well be," Umbreon replied, smacking her lips.

"No, no, I'm being serious. Is it Sunday? We might not have any visits today if it's Sunday," the Flareon persisted.

"I think it's Friday. I don't know, I stopped keeping track of the time a while ago." Evergreen said, pressing her eyes against the back bars of her cage, checking the marks she made on the wall.

I yawned and lifted up my blanket, revealing similar marks, but a lot more. "Yeah, it's Friday. Sorry, Spark." She stuck a paw between the bars of our cages and ruffled my head.

"Oh, it's alright. It's a good thing you still keep track of the date."

"Yeah, without that we'd all go insane…" Umbreon mumbled. He looked underneath him at the still asleep Leafeon. "Hey! Rise and shine!" He gently bit the end of Leafeon's ear which was sticking into Umbreon's cage. She yelped, and looking around, laughed and batted at Umbreon's nose.

"Good morning!"

I turned to Glaceon, and she smiled at me, rolling her eyes at the playfully fighting Eevees next to me. "Morning sweetie. I didn't think you were gonna wake up at all today!" I laughed.

I quickly jerked my head to the familiar sounds of the _click-clacking_ Team Plasma boots. As the rest of the Pokémon in the hallway hear it too, the soft chatter that livened up the carcass of a room died down. the Eevees around me tensed, and I could feel the anxiety between them, the stiff silence. I learned the hard way that the Grunts don't like noise. A while ago, when I was only a year old, they walked in while I was talking to Glaceon (Pokémon learn to talk very quickly). They took me out of my cage and hit me in front of all the other Pokémon until I was bleeding heavily. I guess that was a sign to all the Pokémon to keep quiet. My mother never cried as much as she did then, though I was numb.

Anyway, the immense room was silent as the heavy metal door creaked open and two female grunts walked in, wearing their everyday uniform: a white dress/cloak with the Team Plasma logo-a black and white shield with an electric blue P over a Z, covering a gray and black armored hoodie and matching boots. Although I was half asleep, I remember what they were discussing like I can still hear them talking, with their words reverberating off the icy stone walls.

"Yeah, he said he wants an Eevee, but if we can't, than any kind of, like, Normal type. But I don't feel like looking for anything else," She said in a voice like vinegar. The other replied in an ignorant tone,

"What's an Eevee? And why does he need it anyway? It's not like he needs to impress anyone anymore…" The other one said,

"Idiot, it's the brown one with the fluffy tail. And don't ask me, I say we just throw all these stupid things in a fire and be done with it. I mean, what's the point?" They slowly walked down the hallway, everyone in anticipation at who their choice would be. Lucky for me, one of them stopped right in front of my cage. She bent down and peered in at me, while I cowered next to my blanket.

"Is this an Eevee? How about this one? Look at it…so _cute_." At the word "cute", she stood up and kicked my cage forcefully, sending me flying back a few inches and slamming into the metal bars. I could hear Glaceon growl. "Yeah, get that one," Vinegar smirked, "just to annoy the Glaceon. I'm almost positive that's her mother." She snickered and Glaceon tried all she could not to either snarl or cry. Being fairly young at the time, I didn't know what to expect until one of them opened my cage door and reached inside, grabbing me with cold hands, sharp manicured fingernails scraping my skin. As she lifted me out of my cage, Spark blew a small flame at the Grunt. It wasn't much, but it was enough to light her skirt on fire. She screamed and dropped me, and I fell a few feet to the floor, which was very far for a young Pokémon. The other Grunt tried to grab me, but Spark blew a flame at her, too. Both Grunts screamed, yelling curses at us, while I ran over and hastily scraped at Glaceon's cage. With a shock of inspiration, I bit the lock, tearing it from the crate. Glaceon hurled herself out of her prison and tried to open the other's cages. She successfully opened Spark's, Evergreen's, Umbreon's and Leafeon's when the Grunts started to chase us. Terrified, we looked in every direction until we found a doorway at the other end of the hall. We bolted as fast as we could without leaving another one behind. Glaceon scooped me up and threw me on her back, knowing that I wasn't as fast as the rest of them. Some of the other Eevee's yelled at us to free them too, but I think they knew it wouldn't be possible. When we got to the door, Umbreon used some dark force to turn the doorknob. As the door flew open, a loud alarm went off, blasting our eardrums.

The room we had run into was brighter than any other room we had been in, and we staggered around blindly for a while until Evergreen began to lead us in another direction. After my eyes had adjusted, I discovered the room was some kind of entrance room, with doors that branched off into other hallways. Thank goodness the room was empty that day, or we might have never made it. At the end of the room was a giant pair of steel doors guarded by two Sevipers. They were obviously taken by surprise, because it wasn't until Glaceon had frozen them solid that they began to hiss venomously. Spark burned a large hole in the middle of the two doors, and threw that hole we escaped. Unfortunately, that blast also thawed the Sevipers, and they chased after us. I watched as their toxic gas took over Spark, then Evergreen, followed by Umbreon, Leafeon, and, finally, Glaceon and I. The power of the poison was overwhelming and we collapsed on the spot. I watched as the two Grunts ran over to us, and knew this must be the end. The pain was unbearable. The only thing I could think about was that I couldn't even focus on what the outside world looked like. That last thing I remember before blacking out was a green haired man running towards us, yelling for or at something.


	3. Chapter 2

I was first suspicious when I opened my eyes to sunshine. I had never been outside the building before the past event, so I thought I was in some kind of exam room with far too much lighting. Once my eyes adjusted, I saw Glaceon with me, too. I whispered to her,

"Where's the others?" She had a confused look on her face as she told me,

"I don't…remember." We both jumped as we heard a voice above us speak.

"Ok good, you're awake." As I looked around and then up, I noticed we were sitting in a brown box and that the green haired man from before was looking down on us, smirking. I was petrified, and quickly ran behind my mother, screaming.

"imsorryimsorrydon'thurtmymommyimsososorr-"

"It's okay," he interrupted, "you're safe." Glaceon growled, but I could tell she was confused. We both couldn't understand how he could understand us, especially my screeching that my mother probably couldn't even understand. We didn't even know what we were doing, wherever we were. He looked sympathetically at Glaceon. "Please, don't be mad. Look. I'm trying to help you escape." Glaceon wouldn't let up. "Let us out of this box then," she snarled. The man looked uneasy, "Okay, but promise me you won't run away. It isn't safe for wild Pokémon anymore." Slowly, he tipped the box over. I guess he was afraid of touching us or picking us up. My feet touched dirt for the first time. I was confused at first, but then began to dig a little. It was actually quite enjoyable. Glaceon was more apprehensive. She sniffed around a little at first, walking around, and then stared at the man. "What is your name?" she asked. He was quite for a few moments, but he finally said, "I am Zenotix." He then smirked at her, but I noticed that his smirk wasn't cruel, like the grunt's smirk. It was warm, kind. I couldn't help but think I had never seen a human smile before. Glaceon stared at him some more, then looked around where we were.

To me, it looked like an oval-shaped room where the walls were made of rock (I know now that it was a cave). The walls were cragged, but the floors were worn, like he had been here a while. There was a small fire going at the end of the room, and next to it was a folded blanket, a smaller cardboard box than what we had been in, a couple pillows, one Pokéball and a hiking bag. Smoke rose from the fire and slithered along the ceiling, escaping at the end of the room where there was a hole, like a doorway, covered in a mass of vegetation. I couldn't tell is it was natural or artificial, but I guessed it must be so his whereabouts are kept unknown. Inside the cave was cool-not the bone-chilling coldness that filled Center, but a warm cool. Zenotix noticed my observations and smiled at me,

"It isn't the nicest place, but it's my temporary home." I warily started to walk towards him, curious yet scarred from my previous experiences with humans. My instincts screamed, "TURN BACK!" but I was too inquisitive at that age. Glaceon, who was up against the wall, as far away from Zenotix as possible, made a small noise, but I ignored it. He was so…_interesting._ I had never seen a human other than the Grunts in the Center. He looked like he had slept in the open for a while-his hair was long and unkempt, he had on a black undershirt under a white baggy v-neck which was dirty and torn near the bottom, and his loose beige pants were faded and ripped at the knees. His eyes, brilliantly green, were not tired like the rest of him. They were alight, curious, and rebellious. He looked like he could start a war with the snap of his fingers. I got so close to him that he could have reached out and touched me, which he tried to do. I sat there, dumbfounded, as he reached his arm out to me, and just when he was about to touch me, Glaceon, who was keeping a safe distance away from him, called out to me.

"Eevee, don't! He'll hurt you. Don't you remember what the grunts were like?" I snapped back to reality and bolted back and cowered behind Glaceon. Memories of the Pokémon Center flooded back to me, and I stood there, shivering in fear, hiding behind the only one I had ever grown to completely trust at that time. Glaceon turned and looked reassuringly at me.

"Please, listen to me. I don't want to hurt you! I want to help you!" He looked expectantly at us.

"Okay…if you want to help us, then where are my friends?" Glaceon said, anger appearing on her face. His face fell, and he would rather eat glass than have to answer Glaceon.

"They…they didn't make it. You two…were father ahead than the rest of them…I ran over and thread to save them, but the Sevipers…Just as I got you two, a bunch of Grunts ran out. They didn't notice me. They saw the Eevees passed out…I guess they didn't realize you two were missing. They…they told the Sevipers to…'finish them off'….it was horrible…I am so, so sorry."

"How do we know you didn't hand them in? Did you keep us for your own little games? I've seen them…take Pokémon, innocent Pokémon, and…" Glaceon trailed off, as though it was too horrible to continue, and looked at me, tears brimming in her sapphire eyes. I understood, then, why they had been so protective of me when that Grunt tried to take me out of my cage.

"Oh, no, I hate them, like you! Please, don't say that. You can trust me!" Zenotix said. His voice broke, and it looked as if he was about to cry; with frustration or sadness, I don't know

It was quiet for a few moments, until Glaceon said, quietly at first, then getting louder,

"_Trust you_?" She said it with a voice, dripping with poison, "How…how could I…how could _we_…ever trust you?" tears spilled over her soot covered face. All of her pent-up rage, frustration, and fear from the past years were finally leaking, and the sudden news of her only friend's death was definitely a punch in the gut. Glaceon isn't a mean Pokémon, but she is very independent and doesn't trust easily. I didn't blame her, nor do I now, for not trusting him. I was young, ignorant at the time. She, on the other hand, had learned not to trust humans-I learned not to trust from her. "Why?" She said suddenly. She looked expectantly at him, forgetting that humans can understand Pokémon. Zenotix looked lost for words.

"I…I…because…I'm not one of _them…_I won't hurt you!" That really set Glaceon off.

"Oh, Arceus FORBID that someone hurts us! Let me guess, you want to _help _us, hm? You know how many times I've been told THAT?" Glaceon's pearly white fur was streaked with tears, and she was slowly taking hesitant steps towards Zenotix until she was in the center of the cave, facing him. Zenotix looked terrified and at least a little confused-I guess that made two of us; he was slowly stepping away until his back was against the wall. Glaceon's fur was standing straight up, her expression cold and oh, so hurt. Her eyes were the most fearful thing, though. If looks could kill, Zenotix would have been dead on the floor, feeling her pain.

Staring up at Zenotix, she said in almost a whisper, "Trust…is such a misused word."

She turned around and collapsed on the floor, her body shaking with sobs. Zenotix backed away from the distressed Eevee and fell on the floor next to me, speechless, looking at me as though he was asking for comfort. I looked at him with the most accusing look I could manage, then ran to comfort my mom. I will never forget the distressed look in his eye as I turned my back from him.

...

_He didn't realize how hard it would be to make a new friend._

_Although he had never been interested in human friends his entire life, as a child he had grown up with the comfort of Pokémon. He had a connection with them-literally. He didn't know another person in the world that could communicate with Pokémon. He was the most talented trainer he knew, as well-twice the trainer those meager Grunts could ever dream of being. Usually all he had to do was smile at a Pokémon, say hello, maybe feed it something, and it would love him._

_His plan had been foolproof. Save a Pokémon from that horrible facility, befriend it, and build an army and take down Team Plasma once and for all. His joy was incredible when, the day he had planned to break in and rescue a Pokémon, he found a group of Eevee's escaping. It seemed like fate to him. He hadn't thought about how horribly the Centers treated their prisoners, and how that might impact the Pokémon's relationship with him. Although the young Eevee seemed more than happy to befriend him at first, it was obvious over a few minutes that she was hesitant and that she relied on the older Glaceon for protection. He inferred that the Glaceon was most likely her mother, with her parental motives and protective personality. Glaceons are usually very possessive in the first place, too, so he knew it would be very hard to convince her-to convince both of them-that he's a good guy. He was hesitant to tell them about himself, however. If they were captured again and were forced to tell them about him, he doesn't want Team Plasma to be able to track him again. He could've used the nickname he had used before, what feels like so long ago, with her…oh, how he missed her. She probably hated him. She was so amazing with Pokémon, such a talented trainer-no, he wouldn't think of it. Just picturing her made him choke up. He couldn't have used that nickname…it would hurt too much._

_He wouldn't tell them any more than what the Eevees needed to know. Maybe, if he could trust them…like a puzzle, it finally clicked into place. Maybe the reason the Eevees don't trust him…is because he doesn't trust them. Tomorrow, he decided, he'll start to help them get comfortable and learn to trust him. And maybe, in a couple days, he'll be able to tell them his past. Until then, he had to learn how to be a friend._


	4. Chapter 3

I don't know what kept us from running away that day. Maybe it was Glaceon's anguish, maybe it was our weakness. The day was spent in silence-when we had woken up in Zenotix's cave, it was about noon. After Glaceon's reprimanding, Zenotix left to forage for something to eat, while Glaceon and I stayed in the cave. We talked little; mostly we shared silent communications, happy to at least be together. When he came back, he tried to get us to eat some kind of fruit, but Glaceon wouldn't and wouldn't allow me to eat them either. For whatever reason, we stayed in the cave all day, and all night, though I don't think my mother slept at all. The night was clear and cool, my first night outside the Center. We slept at the far corner of the cave, as far away from Zenotix as possible. My mother slept against the wall, curled around me in a protective way, in a way I had never experienced before in the Center because we had always been in separate crates. Zenotix offered us a pillow to sleep on, but my mother flatly refused. Although I was exhausted and wanted to fall asleep almost immediately, I remember before drifting off, looking over to Zenotix's side of the room to find his emerald eyes watching us. Noticing my gaze, he gave me a quick smile, and wary of my mother, flipped over so I couldn't see his face anymore. I turned and fell asleep staring into Glaceons sad, glassy eyes, scrutinizing the human at the other end of the room.

I don't know exactly what time it was, but it was most likely midnight, when my mother woke me. She beckoned for me to follow her, so I got up and trotted after her, making sure my paws make no sound on the rock. It wasn't until we were outside the cave when I turned to my mother.

"Are we leaving?" I whispered, quietly as I could. She nodded, stiffly. I think at that time, we were both thinking about Zenotix's earlier warning.

We surveyed the area we found ourselves in. The cave was on a ledge on a sheer cliff, overlooking a lush forest. Flowers bloomed in every patch where there wasn't the shade of a tree, a stream bubbled, snaking in between the trees. Plants with odd fruits and berries bloomed here or there. Moonlight shone down on the grove, illuminating the plants in an eerie, elegant light. Of course, when I first saw this, I didn't know what flowers or trees were. My mother, sensing my confusion, told me the colorful shapes were flowers, and the tall, brown things with leaves on the top were trees. She then whispered to me,

"Look, up at the sky. It's been so many years since I've seen stars." Following her gaze, I looked up, and saw millions of tiny little lights, shining through the thick black night. I knew they must be stars. I've heard Pokémon talk about them before, but I never knew they could be so…stunning. It was beautiful, almost picturesque, except one thing. Something was missing, and its absence made the whole scene creepy. I couldn't put my paw on it, until I thought about the stillness.

"Where are all the Pokémon? I thought the wild still had a lot of Pokémon too?"

Glaceon replied, "They're probably all…sleeping," she said, carefully, but both of us knew that wasn't right. With a Center so close by (how close, we weren't sure, but close enough that Zenotix can travel there in a matter of hours), the Pokémon were all probably hiding. "Come on, Eevee, we need to find a way off this cliff." Looking down, she saw another ledge, about 8 feet below. She looked further, and noticed smaller ledges sticking out, like stairs but much more dangerous. She hopped down onto one, and motioned me to follow her. We continued to leap from rock to rock until we reached the ledge. Glaceon peered over the edge to find another way to get down, and saw bulky rock, jutting out from the cliff face. She picked me up in her muzzle and gingerly lowered her back paw down onto the rock. She had barely touched it, though, when it moved to reveal a very aggravated Geodude. Glaceon quickly withdrew her paw and deposited me on the cliff ledge next to her.

"Oh! I am so sorry! I didn't notice…it's so dark out here…" Glaceon nervously chuckled.

It yelled in frustration, and swung its fists over the ledge and hoisted itself up, coming face to face with us. We stepped back in surprise as it began to madly swing its fists and yell some kind of battle call. To our dismay, a handful more Geodudes answered the call, climbing over the ledge or clinging to the rock wall, yelling.

One of them started to say something undecipherable, looking at the one who called them in the first place. He looked at him and yelled something incoherent back, smiling mischievously at us. The others started to laugh and circle us, flinging rocks and mud. Glaceon and I gasped in shock and were easily overpowered by the Geodudes. Glaceon tried freezing some of them, but they cracked the ice with little effort. They were not undertrained like the Sevipers that guarded the doors to the Center; they were wild Pokémon, who had probably been fighting their entire lives. Even though Glaceon's ice could normally crush them, she had never trained for battles, and their strength was no match for her's. Some drew in closer, punching us or pulling our fur, and all we could do was scratch and bite as many as we could. Suddenly, one picked me up in his massive fists and threatened to through me over the edge. I frantically scratched at his rocky fingers, crying and screaming and flailing, while Glaceon screamed my name and tried as hard as she could to freeze the Geodude. He grabbed my tail, which made a sickening _pop, _and dangled me over the edge, and I screamed as loud as I could. Hearing yells from a human, I looked up at the ledge where Zenotix's cave was and though I saw him. I thought I saw Glaceon look up at him too, so I knew it wasn't an illusion. I heard Zenotix say something, and the Geodude that was holding me threw my down on the ledge and hopped off, the rest of the Geodudes following closely after.

I didn't even have time to look at Zenotix until he scooped me up in his arm and Glaceon in the other. He didn't say anything-he didn't need to. We didn't heed his warning and foolishly ran away. If he hadn't saved us, we would, no doubt, be dead. I noticed my mother looked very pale and was too weak to object at Zenotix's contact. She smiled sadly at me, then cringed and looked at her leg. It hung limply at her side, twisted at an odd angle and swelling, and I realized the Geodudes must have broken it. She had a black eye and many bruises on her body. I vaguely wondered what I looked like.

N noticed her leg, too, and looked sympathetically at Glaceon, but she avoided eye contact with shame. He quickly bounded up the natural rock steps and ducked out of the moonlight and into his dark cave, hidden by what I had discovered earlier to be hidden by a natural barrier. He strode over to his supplies and gently set us down on a pillow, then opened one of his cardboard boxes and retrieved a red, plastic container. He flipped it open and got out a wad of gauze, a jar of what looked like glue, a tube of some kind of cream, and a bag filled with colorful balls. He first looked at Glaceon, and wordlessly, she shifted so he could see her leg. It was fairly gruesome and I tried to look away, but I couldn't turn from my mother. He tenderly picked it up in his hand, and Glaceon cried out in pain. Carefully, he rubbed some of the cream on the swelling area, wrapped the gauze around her leg with nimble fingers, then spread the glue-like substance over it, which quickly hardened and made a makeshift cast. I could tell the cream made it less painful, but it still hurt her. He then rubbed the cream on her puffy black eye and the other bruises, careful not to touch her leg. He then looked at me and cautiously picked up my tail, resulting in extreme pain. Unlike my mother, though, I didn't gasp in pain, instead I felt like I was going to cry. Looking at my tail, I saw that it was dislocated and I couldn't move it at all. Zenotix applied some of his special cream and lightly twisted it back in its socket. At first, it hurt like nothing else, and I screamed, but just as soon as the pain started, it stopped, and felt amazing. He put some more of the cream on my injuries and put some gauze on a nasty cut on my back. When he finished, he put his supplies away and slowly laid down on his blanket-bed. He sat there for a little, gazing up at the ceiling, when Glaceon limped over and stared at him until he looked at her.

"You saved us."

Stunned, he said, "I…yeah, I couldn't let them hurt you…"

"Thank you." She gently nosed his hand, then hobbled over to the pillow he had offered us yesterday and laid down. I ran over, pressed my face against his cheek, than jogged over to lie down next to my mother.

"I thought you hated me." He said, looking at us.

"You saved my daughter's life. I don't care if you are one of Them, I am forever grateful."


	5. Chapter 4

The next day, we went out into the woods with him. I think he has become a sign of protection for my mother and I, though I don't think she fully trusts him yet. In the morning, he took us out and showed us how to avoid the Pokémon. Most of them are wary of humans, anyway, so we didn't have anything to worry about. He showed us a hidden path that led safely down the cliff, and ended in a berry patch. He couldn't eat them, he told us, but the berries were perfectly safe for Pokémon. We went with him to find food for him, and foraged for most of the day. We went to the cave at sunset, with a large amount of a kind of red fruit he called "strawberries". After we finished eating around our little fire, Zenotix said, very seriously,

"Is there anything you two want to know about me?" We pondered that question, slightly confused, until I got an idea.

"How do you speak Pokémon?" I asked.

He airily laughed. "Well, I could telepathically talk with Pokémon since I was born. I don't know why." He smiled and tousled the fur on my head, painfully reminding me of Spark.

Glaceon said, suspiciously, "How far away from the PPC _are_ we?"

"Oh, a good 50 miles. It took a couple days to get there and a few more to carry you two back."

"You _walked?_ That far?" I was amazed. I think both Glaceon and I guessed the Pokemon Center was only about ten miles away. We didn't realize _days_ might have passed between the time we left the PPC and arrived in the cave.

"Why didn't we wake up?" My mother continued, her eyes narrowing.

"That gas from the Sevipers was really strong, it kept you guys knocked out until a few hours after we got here." He said, innocently. Then, possible noticing the look in Glaceon's eyes, said,

"Okay...I want to tell you guys why you should trust me."

Glaceon and I exchanged looks, and went to sit next to him. Staring into the orange and red flames, he said, "There are…so many reasons why you shouldn't trust me. I really don't blame you if you still don't after I tell you this. In fact, I don't blame you if you want to leave after I tell you this. But...I feel like you need to know.

"So, so many years ago, I was…one of Them. I hate to admit it, but it's true. I believed in their plans…that Pokémon didn't belong with trainers, that freeing them was the right thing to do. I didn't realize what they meant by…_freeing_ them.

"There was a…a person, who tried to stop me. I should've listened to her, but I didn't. She tried fighting Plasma and me, but they ignored her and shooed her away. They didn't think she was a threat.

"Plasma's plan was to convince trainers to give them their Pokémon. They began these 'Pokémon Rights' movements, to convince trainers to free their Pokémon. Many believed it was the right thing to do. They gave their beloved friends to Plasma's Pokémon Centers, PPCs, their own verity which were so much different than the old kind. The original ones were cheery places where trainers could heal their Pokémon, not, well….what you guys were trapped in. Trainers didn't know what they did with the Pokémon; They said they released them, but there were less and less Pokémon in the wild. Turns out, not only were they tricking trainers into giving up their Pokémon, they were also catching Pokémon in the wild. Usually that isn't a problem, but it was keeping people from getting new Pokémon. Once most of the Pokémon were gone, the people found out that Plasma might not be the good guys. They began resisting and hiding their Pokémon, but Plasma didn't give up. People discovered that their plan wasn't to save Pokémon... it was to make Plasma more powerful.

"That girl…she began fighting them, harder than she had before. She almost won, too…when one of the Seven Sages, a group of leaders, named Ghetsis…he got so sick of her, he went crazy…he lashed out and…and killed her with his Pokémon, and put all of hers in a PPC. If I had listened to her...she wouldn't have died...

"After that, it got out of hand. Grunts realized that they could kill people, too. If anyone wouldn't give up their Pokémon, they would destroy them, sometimes their families too, just to get to their Pokémon. They were so obsessed with control…

"Before this, I ignored my instincts. Like I said, I let myself believe that freeing Pokémon was a good idea, ignoring the fact that they weren't freeing them for their safety. I didn't realize they were stealing people's Pokémon, forcing them to abandon their friends. Once I found out that they killed that girl, I went nuts. I tried to stop as much as I could, but they wouldn't listen to me anymore-the whole organization was already too far out of my control. When I started to shut down PPCs and free Pokémon, they shunned me and kicked me out.

"After weeks of searching for a place to stay, I found this place and called it my Secret Garden. It's one of the only places left with wild Pokémon and nature…Team Plasma destroyed so much nature in their quest for power. I stayed here, trying to protect the wildlife and trying to raise an army and come up with a plan to fight them, take them down. To…to avenge her.

"I have been planning for so long to save some Pokémon from that Center. It's a good distance away, but it's the closest one, and no Pokémon deserves to live there. That's why I saved you guys. I tried to save the others…it was so horrible, watching them die. I have seen too many die.

"So…that's my life story. Or at least, most of it. It's your choice whether you want to trust me or not. But everything…everything I said, sadly, is true."

He looked at us, tears drying on his cheeks. Glaceon, slowly, crawled up in his lap, and I climbed up next to her, nuzzling in his shirt.

"I…had no idea…I mean, I accused you of being one of them…I'm sorry." Glaceon said, looking sympathetically into his eyes.

"Look…you didn't know. It's okay, really." He smiled gently at her, and she smiled back, their eyes sparkling.

That night, my mother and I slept curled up next to him, one of him arms wrapped around us. And believe me, we never even thought of running away again.


	6. Chapter 5

Over the next few weeks, we never left Zenotix's side. We went into the meadows with him to hunt and forage for berries, to find firewood, or to fetch water from a nearby spring that only spits fresh water every couple days; usually, the water is thick and brown like custard and emits a foul smell similar to raw meat. We did not meet other Pokémon in the Garden, but in the rare occasion, they would flee at the sight of Zenotix. It would scurry in front of our path, most likely growling and batting the air, and Glaceon would give a yelp of surprise, and we would both shrink back and wait until Zenotix sees our dilemma. Glaceon always seemed frustrated when Zenotix could simply shoo it away – she would go from nervously growling to rolling her eyes and huffing when he intervened.

One day, we were taking a walk in the woods with mouthfuls of plump, orange berries, my mother and I walking a few yards ahead of Zenotix. With a loud screeching cry, a Spearow flew down from the canopy and flapped his wings in front of our eyes, kicking up dirt. The heavy debris made it hard for us to breath, making us sputter and choke on our berries. Through the thick dust and the sounds of dry coughs, I saw Zenotix run towards the noise, yelling something in his English words. The Spearow, instead of running in fear, shot into the air, raked his talons down our backs, and flew straight towards Zenotix. Propelling himself forward with short gusts of his wings, he stuck his claws in front of him, preparing to gouge Zenotix's eyes out. He waved his arms frantically, yelling something none of us could understand, as the Pokémon set to blind him drew nearer. The Spearow latched onto his face, narrowly missing his eyes by a stroke of luck and instead digging into his cheeks. Zenotix reached up and grabbed it, tried to pry it away, shrieking in anguish, and glared at it with the darkest look I had ever seen anyone use. The Spearrow, suddenly fearful, yanked his talons out of Zenotix's face with claw-fulls of human flesh and flew away, glancing back with evil expressions. Zenotix tried to stop the heavy flow of blood from his cheeks, holding the remaining pieces of flesh to his faceholding his shirt up to the two gaping holes in his cheeks. I could feel blood run down my back from the gash, and Glaceon had a heavy crimson blanket on her sapphire coat. He grabbed his face in one hand and plucked us up with his other hand, which was covered in blood and had scratches from wrestling with the Pokémon. I then realized I still had the berries in my muzzle, though now they were punctured and there were streaks of their orange juice dribbling down my front. Looking over to my mother, I noticed the absence of this on her fur and realized they must either still be in her mouth or throat, or she must have swallowed them.

"What *cough* what did you tell the *cough cough* Spearow?" my mother said, choking on her words and clearing her dusty throat, looking up at Zenotix.

"I told him that I was in Team Plasma. You didn't hear it because I… I didn't want to scare you two." His voice rang through our minds, and even his telepathic messages were feeble and injured.

It took him a while to clean up once we were back at the cave. After rinsing the blood off of his face, he discovered that the damage was a lot worse than he thought - apart from the inch-thick holes in his cheeks, he also had many deep cuts on other parts of his face. He used some kind of sticky gauze and covered the cuts and used it as a substitute for the missing chunks of skin. He had to add more than six layers of the gauze, it was bleeding so profusely that every few seconds his cheeks were dripping with red liquids again. While he stopped the blood flow as best as he could, my mother cleaned the scratches on my back, which were probably ½ inch deep. I offered to do the same to hers, but she insisted she was okay, instead laying a heavy towel on her cuts. We didn't talk for a while – Glaceon and I managed to start a meager fire while Zenotix patched his face together, occasionally chucking in scrap pieces of gauze. My mom and I picked up trash from the medical supplies, and unsure of where to put them, made a small pile in the corner of the cave, and then, with nothing left to do, pulled our pillows up to the fire and sat staring into the embers. I could see the gears turning in my mother's mind. I, on the other hand, was so tired I could barely think. As I began to drift off, I saw Zenotix come over with a horrible, scarred face. I felt his hand gently stroke my blood streaked fur, and, seeing the cuts, got a bandage and covered them. I heard his footsteps approach my mother, bandaging her wounds too. He sat back down next to me and began to rub my back, even softer than before. He and my mother talked for a while, or at least I heard Glaceon say something to him and there was silence as he replied, probably careful to direct his voice to only her.

"I want to learn to battle." My mother's voice, calm and clear, broke the serene quiet. I was drawn back from my dreams and awoke, my eyes shooting open and my body tensing. I felt Zenotix's hand stiffen, still resting on my body.

"What?" His message shot through both of our minds, either realizing I'm awake and would want to hear the conversation, or just too stunned to remember to direct it in only one direction.

"I'm tired of being vulnerable. I can't stand not being able to protect my daughter. I want to learn to fight."

"But… that's dangerous! You could be hurt!"

Glaceon glanced at the bandages on her back, then gave a pointed look to Zenotix. "I'm already injured. Look, you said it yourself – outside isn't safe anymore. So why can't I be able to defend myself?"

"… Are you sure? I'd technically be your _trainer_ than, you know."

"What's wrong with that? I would much rather be with you than with any other human out there."

Zenotix beamed, a caring look in his eye. His fingers relaxed and he started scratching my ears. It felt _amazing_.

"Okay, I'll do it. If you're sure." He reached his other hand over and stroked my mother's soft fur, and my tired mind began to fully process what they had been saying.

"I wanna, too!"

"What?"Zenotix and my mother stared at me, disbelief in his eyes, and protection in hers.

"I wanna fight! I'm already three, mom. Most Pokémon start being trained as soon as they're born." I looked at Zenotix. "Right?"

Confused, he nodded. "Yeah, I guess." Glaceon glared at him.

"Eevee, that's insane. There is no way I'm going to let you-"

"Mommy, what happens if I get separated? Or if you're gone? When will I start learning?" She stared at me, frowning.

"Okay. If Zenotix wants to," she sighed.

"Oh, I'd love to! I have nothing else to do, I'm just so glad you guys trust me enough to let me train you two." I softly cheered, and my mom nodded, still a little unsure. Yawning, I curled back up on my pillow and quickly fell asleep.

That night, I dreamed that I had evolved into a powerful Glaceon, like my mother, fighting and winning against even Mew itself. Then, a Seviper came and defeated me for the first time. It took away my home and forced me to go to jail. I woke with a start, the sound of the metal cage door ringing through my mind. I glanced around the cave and noticed a pair of worried bright green eyes watching me. Zenotix smiled. "Are you okay?"

"I had a nightmare," I whispered, quietly walking over to him. He lifted up his arm, making space for me to lie down. I happily curled up next to him, his warmth soothing my scared mind.

"It's okay," he said, laying his head down inches from mine. "It's only a dream."


End file.
